University Village Albany tenants urge UC to join California rent relief program

ALBANY >> State legislation enacted in February may help end a prolonged stalemate over back rent owed by student residents at University Village Albany.

Because the University of California owns the housing for UC students who are married or have families, residents there do not fall under state and local protections against eviction that were enacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the University Village Albany Tenants Union says in an online petition that the administration has been punitive in its effort to collect back rent.

“UC Berkeley University Village residents in Albany have been on rent strike and withholding rent by necessity for almost a year due to the economic crisis caused by COVID-19,” the petition states. “Almost $1 million (is) owed in back rent, and after four months at the bargaining table, no progress has been made, and our feedback, suggestions, personal experiences of hardship and research were studiously ignored.”

The petition claims the university used retaliatory measures on rent-delinquent tenants, “such as removing back rent from student loans and financial aid packages and invoking registration holds against students who are behind in rent.” The tenant group also criticized an earlier offer extended by the university for a 25% monthly repayment plan. The petition, which had 482 signatures as of Monday, calls on the university to join the state’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program, enacted under Senate Bill 91, which was signed Jan. 29 by Gov. Gavin Newsom and became effective Feb. 1.

The program provides $2.6 billion in aid for renters included in the federal stimulus bill and extends the statewide eviction moratorium through June, provided tenants who provide proof of inability to pay rent due to the pandemic pay 25% of their rent. The program would pay landlords up to 80% of arrears accumulated from April 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021, that is owed by qualifying tenants who can demonstrate financial hardship related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“While the lines for the food pantry in the UC Village stretch around the block, programming is canceled and childcare is unavailable, the UC refuses to join landlords across the state and apply for available state funds that could support student families in paying their back rent,” the petition states.

The 58-acre UVA has 974 units of one-, twoand three-bedroom apartments and two-bedroom town houses. Rent ranges from $1,505 a month for a 635-square-foot onebed, one-bathroom unit, to $2,315 a month for an 1,100-square-foot threebed, two-bathroom unit, according to the university’s website. The two sides met on March 28, with talks focused on SB 91 and the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, and the university this week announced that it is adjusting its policies to reflect the legislation but stopped short of a commitment to joining the program.

“We continue to have a dialogue with the University Village residents, to hear their concerns and needs, and work collaboratively on solutions. We have heard UVA student feedback about the need for support in paying both current rent and owed rent from previous months due to pandemic hardships,” Adam Ratliff, UC’s assistant director of media relations and critical communications, said in a statement.

“While we previously were discussing and began offering in February 2021 a 25% monthly repayment plan aligned with AB 3088 (the COVID-19 Tenant Relief Act of 2020 that Newsom signed Aug. 31), the state of California has since passed — and counties have recently begun implementing — a law, SB 91, to which we are now aligning our support and respecting the eviction protections it affords,” Ratliff continued. “To be eligible for the eviction protections SB 91 affords, students must submit a COVID-19-Related Financial Distress Declaration.”

Ratliff said the university is “committed to keeping our students and student families at UVA in their homes during these challenging times. To be clear, students who cannot pay rent to the campus during the pandemic will not be evicted for nonpayment.”

He said also that the university is encouraging residents with rent issues because of financial hardship to contact the university’s housing arm “as soon as possible so that we can work with them to find solutions for rent payment.”

He also suggested that tenants learn about the state Emergency Rental Assistance Program, which opened its first phase on March 15 and is administered locally by Alameda County (ac-housingsecure. org). Whether the university is an eligible property owner for the program is still uncertain, Ratliff said.